TX 356 

.D4 

1911 



^-' fGGESTIONS 



TO THE 



HOUSEWIFE 




Department of 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

District of Columbia . 

1911 



SUGGESTIONS 

TO THE 

HOUSEWIFE 



COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND MARKETS 

WASHINGTON 



THIS PAMPHLLT IS ISSUED BY THE 

DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES 

AND 

MARKETS 

OF THE 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



Office of the Superintendent: Rooms 313-317 Dis- 
trict Building. 

Office open — 9 a. m. to 4.20 p. m. Mondays, Tues- 
days, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and 
from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. on Saturdays. 

Telephone Main 6000. 



Note — This pamphlet contains extracts from a 
pamphlet issued by the Mayor's Bureau of the 
City of New York, to which Bureau it is desired 
due credit shall be given. 

Also extracts from the laws governing the use 
of scales, weights and measures, and the sale of 
•commodities in the District of Columbia. 



Valuable Information for the Housewife. 



This pamphlet is issued by the Department of 
Weights and Measures of the District of Colum- 
bia for the guidance of the purchasing public. 

Read this pamphlet carefull}-, and if you carry 
out the instructions contained herein you will 4o 
much to protect yourself against loss. 

If your neighbor has not a copy of this pam- 
phlet, and desires one, write to the Superintendent 
of Weights and Measures, Room 313, District 
Building, and a copy of the same will be mailed, 
free of charge, immediately upon receipt of your 
letter. 

No kitchen is complete without a good scale, 
tested and sealed and a set of sealed dry and 
liquid measures. 

To properly protect 3'ourself against being de- 
frauded, it is better that you provide your house- 
hold with a good scale and a set of accurate dry 
and liquid measures. When you buy your scale 
or measures, to be sure that they are accurate you 
should send them to the office of the superintend- 
ent of Weights and Measures and have them test- 
ed. Every purchase you make, when it reaches 
your home should immediately be reweighed or 
remeasured in order to ascertain whether or not 
your merchant delivered to you full value for your 
money. 

3 



To be absolutely fair with your merchant, the 
scale you buy should be of as good a type as you 
can afford and tested, and sealed. Since you are 
judging- the honesty of your merchant by the re- 
weighing of his commodity on your scale, you 
should be absolutely sure that your scale is right 
lest you should misjudge an innocent and honest 
person. 

A yard stick should be used in preference to a 
tape measure in measuring dry goods. The tape 
measure is generally made of a cheap muslin or 
cotton cloth and is usually subject to shrinkage 
by reason of the printing thereon and ever-present 
possibility of its becoming moist or damp. The 
same tape measure, by constant use, is equally 
liable to expand. At any rate, it is not a safe or 
accurate measure. A good yard stick can be ob- 
tained cheaply and, with a reasonable amount of 
care, is not likely to become inaccurate if it is 
accurate when purchased. To be quite sure that 
the yardstick you purchase is accurate, send it for 
test to the office of the Superintendent of Weights 
and Measures. 

When you make purchases, whether it be in the 
butcher store, the grocery store or the dry goods 
store, insist upon the bill which you get having 
plainly marked thereon the weight of the quantity 
of the article purchased. For example : If you 
buy a chicken, do not be content with the butcher 
marking on the bill or the ticket you get, "one 
chicken, 48 cents" ; insist upon him making the bill 
read, so many pounds of chicken (whatever the 
weight of the chicken may be) and then the price 
paid for it. 



To understand the importance of this, 3^our at- 
tention is called to the fact that if 3'ou buj^ a 
chicken and 3^011 discover at home that 3'Ou have 
been shortweighted, \^ou will have difficulty in 
proving this fact unless you can show by compe- 
tent testimony that you asked for a certain weight 
or your butcher told you that the chicken was of 
a certain weight, and the best evidence in a case of 
this kind is a ticket showing the weight and the 
price charged. 

This is true of ever3^ purchase you make. You 
will be greatly helping yourself if you will further 
insist upon the merchant putting on the same 
ticket the price per pound, in addition to the 
weight thereof. 

When you purchase vegetables by the dry meas- 
ure, that is, a quart or a peck or a bushel, be 
sure to examine the measure the merchant uses 
before making your purchase to be sure that it 
has the seal of this office on same. 

When you order vegetables by the dry measure, 
be sure and ask for a definite quantity, such as 
a quart of beans, or peas, or a peck of potatoes ; 
otherwise if you have been defrauded the mer- 
chant will always contend that he did not intend 
that the quantity supplied you was to be of a defi- 
nite known quantity. He will always refer to it 
as a basket or a pail or a package of the commod- 
it}', and 3^our chances of prosecuting him would be 
minimized. 

The same care should be taken in ordering 
liquids. Do not be content with asking for a 
large can of olive oil. Ask for a known quantity, 



such as a quart, a gallon, two gallons, etc. Nor 
should you be content with asking for a bottle of 
vinegar, but should insist on getting a quart or a 
pint bottle of vinegar, etc. 

When you buy a quart of potatoes by the dry 
measure, or any other vegetable, the law requires 
that you get heap measure. This means that the 
measure itself must not only be full to the brim, 
but it must be heaped in the shape of a cone as 
high as the commodity itself will permit. 

DO NOT LEAVE TRIMMINGS OF YOUR MEAT WITH THE 
BUTCHER. 

Many butchers are very accommodating and 
obliging in their desire to trim the meat which 
you purchase of them, after the meat has been 
weighed and you have paid for every particle of 
it. For example, your order a steak at 28 cents 
a pound. The butcher cuts the steak and places it 
upon a scale. He then informs 3^ou of the price of 
the steak. If the steak weighs three pounds ex- 
actly, it will cost you 84 cents. Thus you are pay- 
ing for every particle of the steak. He then re- 
moves the steak to the block and proceeds to 
"trim" the steak, cutting away certain portions of 
the fat and meat and bone. He then deposits all 
he has cut from your steak in a box beneath the 
counter, all of which you have already been 
charged for at the rate of 28 cents a pound. On 
the following morning the butcher again sells 
these trimmings, for which you have paid at the 
rate of 28 cents per pound, for 6, 7, and 8 cents per 
poimd. In the meantime, you have taken your 



steak home, and if you are careful you have it 
weighed upon the scale in your kitchen. If the 
butcher has been dishonest, you discover a var- 
iance between the weight charged for and the 
weight of the steak on your own home scale. If 
you go back and complain to the butcher, he will 
promptly tell you that the difference between the 
weight of the steak when he sold it to you and the 
weight of the same steak on your scale has been 
deposited in the box beneath his counter as trim- 
mings. He has removed all possible trace of the 
necessary evidence in a short-weight case. 

This office advises you and urges you in all 
cases to insist upon the trimmings being given to 
you or sent you with the meat. There are many 
uses to which you can put these trimmings at 
home. If the butcher can sell them for various 
prices per pound, certainly they must have some 
value in your home. The fat can be rendered 
into lard ; the bones can be used in soup, and any 
careful housewife can certainly find many uses for 
trimmings of meat. 

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU 
LEARN TO READ A SCALE in the shop. This 
you can only do by looking carefully at each scale 
that you see. This office cannot furnish a specific 
set of instructions in this pamphlet, because of the 
vast number of different types of scales being 
manufactured. 

It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that the 
housewife in reading a scale has an absolute dis- 
regard for the ounce graduations. The average 
woman simply observes the pound, quarter pound 



8 



and half pound markings on the scale, and the 
short lines between these indications always pass 
her unnoticed, but they do not, however, pass the 
merchant unnoticed. A housewife will go into 
a butcher shop and ask for "about 2 pounds of 
steak." The butcher, of course, cannot gauge ac- 
curately in cutting meat to the extent of an even 
pound or two pounds, but cuts as near the amount 
asked for as he can. He then places it upon the 
scale, and instead of saying to the purchaser "2 
pounds and 3 ounces," he will as a rule call out 
the amount he is going to charge for the meat, 
and the average purchaser rests content with this. 
The advice of this office to the housewife is to in- 
sist upon the butcher saying just how much it 
weighs, and not how much it costs. 

Keep your eye on the scales while the merchant 
is weighing your purchase. 

Always watch closely the tradesman and the 
scale when your purchase is being w^eighed. Do 
not allow him to put his hands on either the scale 
or any portion of it or upon the meat or com- 
modity when it is upon the scale and being 
weighed. The moment the merchant puts his 
hand or knife on the scale, or in any manner 
touches it while your commodity is upon it, you 
may be defrauded. 

There is no occasion and no reason for the mer- 
chant to in any manner touch the scale. Do not 
allow him to bring the scale to a stop unless after 
he has brought it to a full stop he removed his 
hand and permits you to read the scale. 

If you are buying a leg of mutton or a leg of 



lamb, or any kind of meat which projects out 
from the scale itself, do not permit the butcher 
to hold on with his hand to the meat, because this 
is one of the many ways in which dishonest butch- 
ers manipulate a scale. 

If the scale has only one face, and that is not 
turned toward you, be careful to watch the hand 
of the butcher when he turns the scale around, 
so that 3'ou can read it. Be sure that he has not 
taken hold of any part of the scale which can 
affect the weighing. Be sure also that he is not 
holding the scale in an awkward position so that 
pressure can be placed upon the "runner", if it is 
a hanging spring scale. 

WATCH CLOSELY HOW THE BUTCHER 
HANDLES A COMPUTING SCALE: 

A computing scale is a scale which has a me- 
chanical device, and which tells the operator auto- 
matically how much the commodity should cost 
at every price per pound. In a great many in- 
stances, this type of scale is set at a point where 
the weighing platform is on a level or close to 
the counter and so far from you as to be almost 
concealed and out of view, and unless you watch 
very carefully while your meat or any other com- 
modity is being weighed on this type of scale, if 
the merchant is dishonest he will have a knife 
point bearing upon the platform of the scale or in 
some other manner putting pressure on it, thus 
adding to the weight of your commodity in a 
fraudulent manner. 

These scales are highly sensitive, but all of 
them have attached to them what is known as a 



"dashpot", and if the butcher or merchant is dis- 
honest, there is no reason why the scale should 
be over-sensitive. You can judge the sensitive- 
ness of the scale by the rapidity with which the 
hand or dial or weighing indicator moves. For 
your information, you are informed that one of the 
practices of dishonest butchers or grocers is to 
keep the scale as highly sensitive as possible, so 
that the hand or computing dial or weighing indi- 
cator will move so quickly as to afford him oppor- 
tunity and a reason for bringing the scale to a 
stop with his hand, and in this way deceiving 
you and consequently defrauding you. No scale 
should be so sensitive as to create an unreasonable 
delay in waiting for the hand to come to a stop, 
and where the scale is so sensitive, it is usually 
because of the desire of the merchant to have it 
that way. 

Why telephone your order to your tradesman 
and take a chance, when l)y going yourself you 
can be sure you are getting what you paj^ for? If 
3'OU must use the telephone in ordering your food- 
stuffs, you must also take extra precautions to see 
that you are not being defrauded. 

Avoid whenever possible, however, using the 
telephone in ordering, because the telephone order 
has proven a great temptation to defraud to the 
dishonest merchant. 

A FEW don'ts. 

Don't allow your grocer or dairyman to weigh 

in the wooden butter dish when he is weighing 

your butter. These butter dishes frequently 

weigh, in accordance with their size, from an 



ounce to three ounces. You will observe some of 
them very prettily decorated with tin on the edge. 
Remember, if they weigh these in, they are sell- 
ing you the tin and the wood at the price of but- 
ter. 

Don't let the fancy package goods fascinate you, 
because you are frequently paying very heavily 
for the fancy package and in most cases getting 
considerably less of the product than you would 
if buying it loose. Butter put up in prints is 
sanitary, but be sure you are getting i6 ounces of 
butter without the paper or the carton. 

Don't buy in a careless manner. That is, al- 
ways ask for whatever the commodity is by a 
known weight or measure. Avoid asking for a 
cupful, 5 cents' worth or lo cents' worth, a pack- 
age, a handful, a glass, a jar, a bag, a basket, a 
bucket or a tub. All of these terms mean nothing 
in the law ; unless 3^ou say a pound, or a quart, or 
a gallon, or whatever amount you want. 

Don't buy in small quantities if you can avoid 
it. To illustrate the danger of this, I call your 
attention to the following: The poor people in 
the city who are forced to buy in small quantities, 
purchase butter a quarter of a pound at a time. 
If a wooden dish weighing one ounce is weighed 
in with the butter the purchaser has been de- 
frauded out of one ounce in every quarter pound 
thereof, losing one quarter of a pound by the 
time a full pound is paid for, whereas even if a 
merchant had weighed in a one-ounce butter dish 
with a full pound purchase of butter, there would 
only have been a fraud of one ounce. This holds 
true in all commodities. 



Don't misunderstand cheapness for economy. 
Cfieapness is not a synonym, nor in no way is it 
related to the word economy. Let us warn you 
against the merchant who always is able to sell 
cheaper than his neighbor. Unless you are very 
sure and positive about the character of your mer- 
chant, avoid patronizing him. Where there are 
three butchers in one neighborhood, and one 
man advertises at his door to sell meat ver}- 
much cheaper than the other two, in most cases 
you may be sure that either he is substituting 
goat meat for lamb or selling an inferior grade of 
meat or short-weighting you. Cheapness never 
has meant economy. If you do patronize a mer- 
chant who is underselling all of his neighbors, 
be on your guard and watchful. 

Don't leave your shopping till the last minute 
and then be in a hurry. It is freciuently when a 
customer is in a .great hurry that the dishonest 
merchant takes advantage of her. You will be 
greatly aiding yourself and this office if you in- 
sist upon the grocer placing the 3^ pound pack- 
age of sugar or any other commodity on the scale 
and weighing it in your presence. Don't be con- 
tent with allowing the grocer to hand you a 3^ 
pound package of sugar or flour from the bin al- 
ready done up, unless he reweighs it in your pres- 
ence, and when he places the 3^/2 pound package 
on the scoop, insist upon him putting an empty 
bag of the same kind that is around the sugar on 
the other side of the scale. Notice carefully the 
kind of paper he uses in putting up his product. 
If it is colored paper, it is frequently a very 



13 



heavy bag, sometimes as heavy as one ounce. In 
some instances, for example, in putting up flour, 
this heavy bag is necessary, because moisture must 
be kept out, but if the merchant desires to facili- 
tate his own business by having his packages all 
done up ready for the trade, he is not entitled to 
weigh in his sugar and flour with this heavy bag; 
it is unlawful for him to do it. 

Don't neglect to test the weight of package 
goods at home and compare them with the weight 
of the same commodity purchased loose. To illus- 
trate this, try to follow it. Buy a lo-cent package 
of oatmeal or rolled oats ; then buy lo-cents worth 
of loose rolled oats of the best grade. Take them 
both home. Empty out the package of rolled oats 
on 3'Our scale and weigh it ; then compute how 
much a pound you have paid for it as a package. 
Remove the rolled oats which you have placed 
upon the scale from the scoop, and then put there- 
on the loose rolled oats and compute the price per 
pound you have paid for these. Note the differ- 
ence. Determine for yourself which is more eco- 
nomical, allowing, of course, for the amount of 
sanitary protection you are getting in the package. 
Try this experiment with soda crackers. Buy a 
package of one of the standard brands of crackers 
at 5 cents ; then purchase 5 cents worth of loose 
soda crackers, and do as you did in the case 
of rolled oats. Try this experiment with most 
all of the other package goods, and especially is it 
important that you tr}- this experiment with bot- 
tled goods, for example vinegar. Purchase a bot- 
tle of vinegar and then a quart of loose vinegar. 



14 



Empty your bottle of vinegar into your quart 
measure and you will see how much less than a 
quart you have actually received. 

Don't depend entirely upon your servants to 
protect you. Such a thing as a steward or a ser- 
vant girl acting in collusion with a dishonest mer- 
chant to defraud the housekeeper has been heard 
of in Washington. Find out if in your kitchen 
any collusion is being practiced. Don't think you 
are losing time Dy your kitchen upon a proper 
system. This department assures you that if you 
will put your kitchen upon a proper system, and if 
you have any way of computing, you will find you 
will save a great deal of money in one year. 

Don't hesitate to notify this office if you have 
any suspicions whatever of the merchant with 
whom you are doing business. Your relations 
with this office can be as confidential as you choose 
to make them. Always remember that while per- 
haps you individually may be able to stand these 
petty losses in your trading, that there are poorer 
people who are dealing with the same merchant 
who cannot so readily stand the loss as you can, 
and by informing this office you will be protecting 
these poorer people against loss. Do not, how- 
ever, be too ready to condemn the tradesman. 
There are honest merchants, and hundreds of 
them, in the District of Columbia. Tradesmen 
make mistakes. A mistake need not always be a 
dishonest one. Let this department know of your 
trouble, and we can judge very promptly whether 
the shortage has been the result of a mistake or 
dishonesty. 



15 



Don't buy ice from your dealer unless he weighs 
it for you immediately before delivery. 

Don't receive coal from your dealer, unless the 
driver presents a ticket with the gross, tare and 
net weights of the load or loads. Demand that 
the ticket be shown you before the coal is dumped 
from the wagon. The law gives 3'Ou the right 
that all coal be re-weighed. If a^ou have any 
doubt as to the honesty of the driver oi the coai 
wagon, or the company itself, notify this office 
that you are to receive coal at a certain time, and 
we will send an inspector who will attend to the 
re-weighing. 

READ CAREFULLY in the back part of this 
pamphlet, the laws on weights and measures in 
the District of Columbia. 
Learn your rights and take advantage of them. 



QUOTATIONS FROM LAWS 

AND 

GENERAL INFORMATION 

CONCERNING 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, D. C. 



Sec. 8. No person shall neglect or refuse to ex- 
hibit any weights, scales, measures, beams, or 
other instruments used by him or her in weighing 
or measuring to the superintendent of weights 
and measures or his assistants when and when- 
ever demanded by them, or either of them, for 
the purpose of inspection and stamping. 

Sec. 9. *That no person shall use for buying 
or selling, or for weighing freight or express mat- 
ter, any weights, measures, scales, or instruments, 
unless the same shall have been examined and 
approved by the sealer or assistant sealer of 
weights and measures. 

Sec. 10. *No person shall sell or offer for sale 
anywhere in the District of Columbia, any pro- 
visions of produce or commodities of any kind 
for a weight or measure greater than the actual 
or true weight or measure thereof. 

Provided, That poultry and vegetables usually 
sold by the head or launch, may be offered for 
sale and sold in other manner than by weight or 
measure ; but in all cases where the person in- 
tending to purchase shall so desire and request, 

16 



17 



poultry shall be weighed, as hereinbefore pre- 
scribed. 

Sec. II. Any person who shall neglect or re- 
fuse to exhibit his weights, measures, scales 
beams, or other instruments used for the purpose 
of weighing or measuring to the sealer or assis- 
tant sealer of weights and measures ; or any per- 
son who shall use, in buying or selling, any 
weights, measures, scales, beams or other instru- 
ments used for weighing or measuring, which 
shall have been inspected and condemned by the 
sealer of weights and measures, or which, upon 
examination, shall not be conformable to the 
standards in the office of the sealer of weights 
and measures ; or any person who shall violate, 
or fail to comply with, any of the foregoing pro- 
visions of this Act, shall be punished by a fine 
not to exceed one hundred dollars and cost of 
prosecution ; and the court may make a further 
sentence that the offender be imprisoned in the 
District jail till the payment of such fine and costs: 
Provided, That such imprisonment shall not ex- 
ceed the period of six months. 

SALE OF COAL. 

Sec. 12. *That no person shall sell, or deliver, 
any coal, or coke, within the limits of the District 
of Columbia unless at the time of the delivery 
thereof to the person in charge of the wagon, 
cart, or other vehicle or conveyance used for and 
in the delivery thereof, a written or printed cer- 
tificate duly signed by or for the seller, showing 



i8 



separately the actual weights o£ said coal, or coke, 
and the name of the purchaser thereof, and the 
weight of said wagon, cart, or other vehicle or 
conveyance, and showing the total weight of said 
coal, coke, wagon, cart, or other vehicle, or con- 
veyance. And any person who shall violate or 
neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions 
of this section shall be punished by a fine of not 
more than forty dollars : Provided, That all 
prosecutions under this Act shall be brought in 
the police court of the District of Columbia on in- 
formation filed by the corporation counsel or one 
of his assistants. 

Sec. 13. That no person in charge of the wagon 
or conveyance used in delivering coal, to whom 
the certificate mentioned in section twelve of this 
Act has been delivered, shall neglect or refuse to 
exhibit such certificate to the sealer or the assis- 
tant sealer of weights and measures, or to any 
person designated by them, or to the purchaser 
or intended purchaser of the coal being delivered ; 
and when said officers, person so designated, or 
such purchaser or intended purchaser shall de- 
mand that the weight shown by such certificate 
be verified, it shall be the duty of the person de- 
livering such coal to convey the same forthwith to 
some public scale of the District, or to any pri- 
vate scale the owner whereof shall consent to 
such use, and to permit the verifying of the weight 
shown, and shall, after the delivery of such coal, 
return forthwith, with the wagon or conveyance 
used, to the same scale and verify the weight of 
the wagon or conveyance. 



19 



Sec. 14. That it shall be the duty of the sealer 
ot weights and measures to inspect, or cause to 
be inspected and tested, the weight of coal sold or 
delivered as aforesaid within the District of Col- 
umbia, and to take the proceedings necessary to 
enforce the provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 15. That any person who shall violate or 
who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the 
provisions of sections six, seven, and eight of this 
Act, or an}' person who shall deliver or attempt 
to deliver coal of less weight than that set down 
in the certificate hereinbefore mentioned, shall 
be punished with a fine not to exceed one hundred 
dollars and costs of prosecution ; and the court 
may make a further sentence that the offender be 
imprisoned in the District jail until the payment 
of such fine and costs : Provided, That the term 
of such imprisonment shall not exceed six months. 

Sec. 16. That all laws and ordinances incon- 
sistent with the provisions of this Act be, and 
the same are hereby, repealed. 

Approved, March 2, 1895. 

WEIGHT OF BUSHEL OF POTATOES. 

That when potatoes are sold by weight the law- 
ful weight of a bushel of potatoes shall be sixty 
pounds, under a penalty of five dollars for each 
offense, to be recovered in the police court of the 
District of Columbia, in the name of the said 
District, in the same manner as other fines and 
penalties are recovered. 

Approved, May 30, 1896. 



20 



LEGAI, WEIGHT OF A TON OF COAL. 

That the legal standard ton of coal in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia shall be two thousand two hun- 
dred and forty pounds. * * * 



SUPERVISION OF DISTRICT MARKETS, 
MARKET MASTERS, PUBLIC SCALES, 
WEIGHMASTERS, INSPECTORS, AND 
FISH WHARF RIGHTS AND PRIVI- 
LEGES. 

Under orders of the Commissioners of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, September 29, 1902; June 12, 
1903, and February 15, 1904, the inspectors of 
lumber, wood, and flour, and the commissioners 
of flour inspections, D. C. markets and market 
masters, public hay scales, weighmasters, and the 
fish wharf rights and privileges were placed under 
the immediate supervision of the Superintendent 
■of weights and measures, through whom all re- 
ports and recommendations are made to the Com- 
missioners. 

CHARCOAL. 

All charcoal sold in the city shall be sold by 
measure or measures,* the shape of which shall 
he fixed by the Alayor (Commissioners) and 
sealed by the sealer of weights and measures ; 
and any person selling or offering charcoal for 



*2,ooo lbs., when sold by weight, constitute a 
ton — Opinion of Corporation Counsel 1905. 



sale in any other than a prescribed sealed meas- 
ure shall forfieit and pay five dollars for each 
offense, to be recovered as other fines are. 
Webb's Digest, page 85. 

GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

LIQUID MEASURE. 

The United States standard unit for liquid 
measure is the gallon = 231 cubic inches = 8.33 -f 
pounds of the standard pounds avoirdupois of dis- 
tilled water. The quart contains 5775 cubic 
inches. 

DRY MEASURE. 

The United States standard unit for dry measure 
is the old English Winchester bushel and con- 
tains 2,150.42 cubic inches or 77.62+ pounds of 
the standard pound avoirdupois of distilled water, 
The dry quart contains 67.2-f- cubic inches. 

The heaped bushel, the cone of which is 6 inches 
above the brim of the measure, contains 2,747.7 
cubic inches. 

Note. — The heaped bushel is used for all kinds 
of vegetables, ear corn, coal, coak, and charcoal 
when sold by the bushel. 

measurements required for legal corn barrel. 

Diameter at center 23^ inches. 

Diameter at top igy2 inches. 

Diameter at bottom 19^/^ inches. 

Depth 28% inches. 

Diameter at angle 3434 inches. 



AVERAGE NUMBER OF BUSHELG 07 ANTHRACITE COAL, 
TO THE TON. 

Shamokin 32 

Lykins V^alley t,2 

Red ash 30 

Chesnut 28 

Stove 28 

Pea 28 

Egg 28 

Furnace 28 

A cart measuring 42 cubic feet holds an aver- 
age ton of coal (2,240 lbs.). 

One-ton coal cart holds ]4 cord wood. 

One-ton coal cart, with rack, holds 14 cord 
wood. 

One-ton coal cart, with rack, holds one ton 
(2,000 lbs.) coke. 

MEASUREMENTS OF CORD WOOD. 

A legal cord of wood in the District of Colum- 
bia is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high, 
and contains 128 cubic feet. 

Note. — From 153 to 160 cubic feet of sawed and 
split wood, thrown in loosely, is the product of a 
cord of wood; 153 cubic feet is a fair average. 
If racked-up the product should be from 112 to 
120 cubic feet; 115 cubic feet is a fair average. 



L. G. KELLY PRINTING COMPANY 

615 F Street N. W. 
1911 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

Hn 

014 232 921 9 



